The Borderland

Seydina Baldé is a better actor than Barak "I'm-not-a-communist!" Obama.

He can swing a karate chop faster than Obama can sign an Executive Order.

Since being a natural born American citizen is no longer required, Seydina should run for U.S. President!

What a great movie!

If Seydina were the American President, he could cut our taxes because he could defend himself.

We wouldn't have to waste taxpayer-dollars on a Secret Service that visits whorehouses, allows psychos to hop the White House fence or allows armed, disgruntled nut jobs onto the same elevator as the President.

Seydina could defend himself!

And if he disagreed with a Republican member of Congress, well he could just karate chop them across the throat.

Done, end of conversation.

Seydina is the bomb! He is the best!

Great action and acting from Seydina Baldé (5 times world karate champion). Nice twists and turns and I had to hide behind my hands a few times when it got bloody!! A bit shocked when you think about women actually being treated that way, and there are so many stories that exist like this in the world. So even if this is fictional it reminds you that it does actually happen. The colours of the film bring in originality and depth. It's surprisingly high quality when you know how low the budget was. Loved seeing Richard Sammel again (from Inglorious Basterds) Hoping that there will be a sequel and that it will show more about the relationships between Gabriel, Witaker and Joan...

... you are ever likely to see.

The genre is ... confused.

It is has simultaneously elements of a martial arts film, a spy film, a comedy, and a horror film.

For example, there is a lot of humor around and about the topic of North Korea. Being from the west, I was not even aware that this was a bountiful source of material for comedy, but the screenwriter clearly saw the matter differently, and wrote jokes accordingly.

The shifts in mood & tone are unpredictable, and that is not necessarily a good thing.

A North Korean officer runs into the barracks only to find one of the soldiers reading a porn magazine. So he takes out a gun and shoots him in the head. In an adjoining scene a captured spy is being tortured by having his intestines removed while he is still alive.

Not quite as funny, that second bit..

All this takes getting some used to.

Nor does it help that the protagonist, the hero, speaks English with an odd accent. Now, in fairness, Jean Claude Van Damme did the same thing at the beginning of HIS career but I somehow doubt that Sedina Balde is about to follow in Van Damme's footsteps. More likely, he is simply going to be a bottom-tier action hero with an annoying accent.

The director TRIES. Boy does he try. There is a scene where simultaneous fights are taking place on two contiguous floors of the same building and I swear the camera angle actually inverts (goes upside down) to prepare the viewer for what comes next.

That is a very cool scene, perhaps the highlight of the film. Seriously cool.

Other directors will see it and copy it. It's THAT good.

Unfortunately, it comes near the half way point and its is all downhill from there.

------------------------------------------------------- PS added 11-12-14. Noticed 4 new reviews added, all rating this film at the level of THE MATRIX or GODFATHER, all by reviewers with only one single review in their IMDb profile. Make of this what you will.

We all know what these type of movies are trying to do, and as such, give them the benefit of the doubt. However, "Covert Operation" has too many flaws to rate any higher than a 2 out of 10. The portrayal of the North Koreans alone is horrible. I can only recommend this film as a poor attempt at a dark comedy. The dialogue is difficult to hear, and the accents are also very heavy. Much of the action is shot with the camera moving, another reason I do not care for the film. I like to see the action in my action films. The plot was hard for me to follow, but it seemed to contain more holes than substance. Also used through out the entire film was poor lighting, again making it difficult to follow the action, and plot. In conclusion, "Covert Operation" is a poor attempt at action, and should be watched with caution, if at all.

I am not normally a follower of these types of films, though this one is unlike anything I had expected. The genre is an interesting blend of action, thriller, adventure, martial art, and even some comedy. If you are expecting something in particular, then you may not get the full appreciation of this film. I came in not knowing what to expect and I was very impressed. The action scenes are professionally done (for once!) and some of the camera work is also quite beautiful. Immediately after watching the film I wanted to watch it again. Even simply the visuals of the scenery and exotic setting were captivating. I simply loved this film.